A
year ago I have done my best to whittle away at frivolous things. I
canceled my cable service. Refusing to pay such high prices for
commercially driven airtime. At the time it was around a hundred dollar
a month saving. Moore's Law says that every eighteen months all
technology doubles. Hence it should get cheaper to produce and maintain.
The
cable industry has inflated its prices far beyond the costs involved
for the technology. This is a sad truth, Americans have been duped into
believing they need that cable television.
I
have always believed in the less is more mentality. Minimalism in
everything you do. I was a weird kid, I enjoyed reading mother earth
news magazine. This was twenty years before the word "green" became a
household word. Growing up often I was reminded that most things I
didn't need. I purely wanted those items, but I never really needed
them. Today when I look around I see excess everywhere. Even in my home
town, we pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve. Yet most of us
absolutely must own a car. Even if it is a Hybrid!
Food
consumption is another thing that is way overboard in our culture.
Obesity is becoming the number one killer. Growing up you saw one out
of ten overly overweight person. Now days you see two out of ten that
are thin. When we consume all that food, we are taking more than what
we need. Someone has to pay another person to plant the food. Many
resources are waisted from fuel costs to environment. The lands are
strained, because of industrial farms. Processed foods have been the
trend for some time now. Growing up we had a very large garden and grew
our foods organically. Today most food that you get at the grocery
stores have been sprayed with some type of pesticides or chemicals. I
wonder when we will start seeing illness that is linked to the so
called "tobacco pesticide" it is used on food crops. It has been
suggested as one of the causes of colony collapse among bee hives. Next
year since I live in an apartment, I am going to try and grow my own
crops in garbage cans for urban jungle relief. It is getting to be to
expensive to purchase food because of fuel costs alone!
In
October of 2007, I made further cuts in my life. I learned that Rupert
Murdoch owned MySpace.com. I deleted my profile on that particular
site. In addition to this I no longer will read publications owned by
him. I have also deleted fox air channel from my television set. This
hurt a lot because I enjoy the Simpsons much. A friend of mine told me
that Simpsons had a contract with fox that they can't be censored. I'm
not so sure about that. In any case the station is still owned by this
man. I cannot sit idle and watch this man gobble up freedom of speech.
Environmentally
I don't need the latest fashion trend. nor do I own a big screen t.v.,
I find it a lot easier when the world is simple. Right now my
Television is a "curb score." Someone threw it out as trash. Yeah it
has some lines going across the picture. But it is functional.
Currently I am able to keep my bills manageable. I have a lot of debt
from things over the last decade. I am working on getting rid of my
immediate debt. Then I can pay off the larger debt and live without
worry. I can't spend more than my resources allow. My greatest debt is
a car accident I was in, prior to that, I didn't understand the
importance of it. Now that I have a 22k debt from an accident I didn't
cause. I know better, and until I start making payments on it. My
driving privileges have been revoked. Then on top of that I have
another 10k debt that was the result of an overpriced college that I
attended. Sometimes the most expensive is not the best. Herzing
definitely fits that bill. You would do a lot better at M.A.T.C. or
University. I do owe on some smaller debt that I am trying to get rid
of, it totals around 2k. When that smaller amount is gone, I can move
onto the bigger debts.
When I am doing my music. I do my best to
keep things minimal. I find that if you try to hard at it. It won't fit
the groove you are trying to create. So I've done my best to keep
things simple and free flowing. This has worked a lot for me. I've done
the front man in a big band thing before. It can be a cacophony of
noise rather than a melding of souls.
I
hear a lot of folk complaining about everyone else. Saying things like
"were doomed," because of Global Warming. Yes I think it is a very real
problem. But the answer lies within. Not what everyone else is doing.
But what are we doing to stop environmental disaster? As a Gay Man I
never understood why Marlboro Lights, were the favored cigarette. Money
from every pack goes into anti gay agendas. Boycotting a product
sometimes is the only answer to the problems. If everyone stopped
shopping at wal-mart or toysrus, then toxic toys in the states would
fade away. recently I went through my home and removed every item that
had "made in china" stamped on it. We have got to stop supporting the
major contributers of bad environmental standards. I do my shopping
exclusively from "mom and pop" shops. I avoid the big box stores, they
rarely are the great deal, they pretend to be.
I
am looking at buying a sewing machine soon too. I wish to make my own
clothes, rather than purchase something that was made in another
country. A friend of mine once said that when I don't have something
that I tend to build it. He was fairly accurate there, I don't like
spending all that money on things I don't need. If I can make something
myself, then that is what I plan on doing. Generally when I build for
myself. It is cheaper and stronger than something store purchased.
If we all did our part, only taking what we need....
take care
Red Dragon
